3.7.1 Operations available

The standard action commands available are described below. In these descriptions, the term "current object" refers to the Lisp object that is being acted upon by the menu command. This depends on the tool being used and the menu in which the command appears, but should be obvious from the context.

Choose
Browse to browse the current object using an appropriate browser. A browser is a tool which lets you examine a particular type of Common Lisp object, and there are a large number of them available in the environment. Some of the browsers available are:

The Class Browser, which lets you examine CLOS classes.

The Generic Function browser, which lets you examine the generic functions in the environment, and the methods you have defined on them.

See the appropriate chapters for a full description of each browser; there is a chapter of this manual devoted to each available browser. The precise name of the
Browse
menu command reflects the type of browser that is used to examine the selected object. Thus, if the command is
Browse - Generic Function, a Generic Function Browser is used.

Choose
Class to look at the class of the current object in a Class Browser. Alternatively, click on
in the toolbar. See The Class Browser for full details about this tool.

Choose
Clip to add the current object to the Object Clipboard. See The Object Clipboard for full details about this tool.

Choose
Copy to copy the current object to the clipboard, thus making it available for use elsewhere in the environment. Note that performing this operation on the object currently being examined by the tool (for example, choosing the command from the
Object
menu when an Inspector is the active window) has the same effect as choosing
Edit > Copy, whereas choosing this option from other menus (such as a
Description
menu) copies more discrete information to the clipboard.

Choose
Documentation to display the Common Lisp documentation (that is, the result of the function
documentation
) for the current object. It is printed in a help window.

Choose
Find Source to search for the source code definition of the current object. Alternatively, click on
in the toolbar. If it is found, the file is displayed in the Editor: the cursor is placed at the start of the definition. See The Editor for an introduction to the Editor tool. You can find only the definitions of objects you have defined yourself (those for which you have written source code)--not those provided by the environment or the Lisp implementation.

Choose
Inspect to invoke an Inspector on the current object. Alternatively, click on
in the toolbar. See The Inspector, for details about the Inspector. If you are ever in any doubt about which object is operated on by a standard action command, choose this command.

Choose
Listen to paste the current object into the Listener. Alternatively, click on
in the toolbar. The Listener provides you with full details about this tool.

Choose
Function Calls to describe the current object in a function call browser. See The Function Call Browser for more details.

Choose
Generic Function to describe the current object (a generic function or a method) in a Generic Function Browser. If the current object is a method, then its generic function is described in the Generic Function Browser and the method is selected. See The Generic Function Browser for more details.

Choose
Browse Symbols Like to display symbols matching the current object in a Symbol Browser. See The Symbol Browser for more details.